Actually, it was being connected to "strategy", not "foreign policy". Neither I nor Gore were talking about Iraq or slavery in terms of a foreign policy blunder.

You are correct. So "...traveling to Africa and buying slaves.." was a practice started under British rule in Colonies and, subsequently, travelling to Africa and kidnapping, not buying, slaves was never endorsed by the federal government of the United States. In fact, as I have noted above, that aspect was specifically outlawed in several, if not the majority, of the original 13 States of the Union. Shortly thereafter, and at least 40 years before the US Civil War, the federal government outlawed the practice of kidnapping Africans and forcing them into slavery in the US. So, it was never a United States strategic imperative to travel to travel to Africa and kidnap Africans and force them into slavery in the United States. Jim

But it is ok if you just irrationally hate Gore. No need to seek anyone's approval with peculiar logic that makes your hatred of Gore seem even more unbalanced.

I agree with that. It reminds me of that irrational Bush-hate. Dispicable and perverse.

B

Yeah, people just have no good reason to be like that, do they Bot?

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

I suppose there were numbers of Americans who projected all kinds of failures of the Bush administration in the period before he was inaugerated. I wasn't one of them. I was sorely disappointed by the Gore loss, and the clouds of suspicion surrounding the Florida recounts. But, as an American, I figured Bush was the President for 4 years, and how could one man really fuck the country up in just 4 years. So, I elected to give Bush the benefit of the doubt.

My present opinion of Bush is something I believe he earned. I make no bones about the fact that I believe he has really fucked America up for a long time, much longer than his 8 years at the helm. I have a hard time with all the speculation on why. But I have no question that my feelings for Bush, as you have come to know them, developed as he exposed himself as the lazy, lying charlatan he truly is - from the WMD bullshit, to letting Osamma go, from the selection of unqualified people to run the federal government's agencies, to the dishonor he has brought on the United States Armed Forces by orchestrating this Vietnam quagmire rerun, from bleeding the American treasury on this invasion and occupation of Iraq to betraying the majority of Americans with his relentless assault on the United States Constitution. Bush has earned my disdain by turning in the most appalling record of a President of the United States in our history. Had he just done nothing we would be better off. My original feelings of "how bad could he be?" must have been a direct challenge to him, as he outdid himself at being a horrible POTUS.

So, the irrational hatred of Gore is irrational because Gore has yet to actually do anything as the POTUS to earn such an emotional response.

If we are going imagine different outcomes for the last 6 years, how about we never went into Iraq, and really made Afghanistan a stable place because we really got rid of Osamma and the Taliban? We might be in a position of strength in the region now.

Or, my favorite would be that Florida's recount put the right man in the White House. But, if you must dwell on really bad outcomes, ones even worse than what has happened, I guess that is what makes you guage.